The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for
International Aviation (CORSIA) is one way that Member States of International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are working to achieve carbon neutral growth
for international aviation from 2020 onwards.

Why
is it needed?

Advances in aircraft technology, operational improvements
and a greater use of sustainable aviation fuels will not be enough to ensure
carbon neutral growth from 2020. Since airlines fly to destinations worldwide
every day, having common international rules is important. CORSIA ensures that
all airlines receive equal treatment, and must meet the same requirements.

Who
is implicated?

CORSIA will affect aircraft
operators with international flights (flights between Canada and another State)
that result in 10 0001
tonnes of CO2 emissions or more each year. It does not include:

Flights
within Canada;

Aircraft
with less than 5,700 kg Maximum Take Off Weight;

Humanitarian,
medical or firefighting operations; and,

New
air operators (exempt from offsetting for their first three years of operation)

1 The conversion factor for jet fuel to CO2 is 3.16,
therefore 10,000 tonnes of CO2 represents approximately 3,200 tonnes of fuel.

How
Does Offsetting Work?

Offsetting means aircraft operators must buy emission units
(equivalent to 1 tonne of CO2) on the open market to offset some of
their emissions. Emission units will come from eligible programs or projects.
ICAO is currently working to determine eligibility criteria.

To start, and through 2027, CORSIA offsetting obligations will
apply only to routes between the 73 States
participating voluntarily, whose operators represent 87​.7​​​​​% of
international aviation activity. Therefore, in order for a route to fall under
the offsetting requirements of CORSIA, both the state that a flight departs
from and the one that it arrives at must be a participant in the scheme. Canada is participating voluntarily.

Beginning in 2027, participation in CORSIA
will be mandatory for most States, so it will apply to the majority of international
routes. The only routes exempted from the scheme after 2027 will be those to
and from States:

with low aviation activity;
and

classified as Least Developed,
Small Island Developing, or Landlocked Developing.

To
start, CORSIA will base offsetting obligations entirely on an operator’s
share of total international aviation CO2 emissions on covered
routes and the sector’s growth post 2020.

Over
time,
CORSIA will also base emission obligations on an operator’s individual growth
in CO2 emissions post 2020.

Every
three years starting
in 2025, operators will have to acquire and retire the number of emissions
units that match their offsetting obligation for the relevant compliance period.

Note: ICAO
is currently developing a methodology to enable operators to reduce their offsetting
obligations by using sustainable alternative fuels.

Annual Monitoring, Verification, and Reporting (MRV)

All operators with international operations will have to
begin monitoring and reporting their covered CO2 emissions in 2019,
and continue to do so every year. Operators will have to hire an accredited third
party to verify their emission reports before submitting them to Transport
Canada. The baseline information we collect in 2019 and 2020 will help
determine offset requirements for 2021.

Implementation
in Canada

Canada began developing its domestic CORSIA regulations in
the fall of 2017, based on the draft final requirements from ICAO. We will
complete regulations for the monitoring, reporting and verification portion by
2019 and for the offsetting component by 2021.